We went to see this combination last night at Nissan Pavillion. This was my birthday present to My Handsome Prince. He had never seen Steely Dan (his absolute favorite!), and has been enjoying Michael McDonald's motown cd. It was a perfect evening. The weather was beautiful, the crowd was fun, and the music was good. I have never been a SD fan and MM is okay. What was fun was hearing the excitement in the Prince's voice every time he called me during the day. He was looking forward to this, it was his night. I'm so glad we went and I have a new appreciation for Steely Dan. Earlier today, I buzzed him on the walkie talkie and confessed that I actually turned the volume up on the radio when a Steely Dan song came on. He laughed.
Steely Dan has a sound all their own. I have no particular reason not to like them but just never enjoyed their sound enough to buy cd's, although I always bought them for the handsome one. I love to listen and watch live music and this was no disappointment. Their music is complex, a jazz/rock style with an almost easy listening feel to it, yet it is not along those soft easy listening lines. I also find SD to be master of misunderstood song lyrics (check out this link - a great NPR Driveway Moment). I have NEVER been able to figure out what they said in most of their songs. I also did not know that Michael McDonald was part of the group for a bit and even sang lead, which once you pay attention, it's a slap on the head moment. Donald Fagen has an interesting lean to him, in that he leans to one side whether standing or sitting, when he sings. He also has this piano type thing that he blows to play, hmmm, verrrry intersting. Walter Becker shows abosolutely no emotion while playing his guitar. He does have a slight head bob and groove to his body. When he really got into it, their was the slightest lip quiver. I love it!
This was a big venue, which we do not do very often. We had great seats but still had to rely on the big screens to see any detail. I did find it humorous that it was a concert with the oldest crowd I have ever seen. Every other performance we have been to has always been a mix. This was the middle age crowd. Last year, when we went to see Little Feat at Bottle and Cork in Dewey Beach, the early crowd was older but once 11:00 hit, the young, partying gang came in (and they had no idea who Little Feat was!). Once again, it was such a lovely evening. I promptly fell asleep on the way home. Poor prince. Late night, motion of the car, snooze.
We have tickets to Hot August Blues, Susan Tedeschi/Derek Trucks Band, and buying tickets to Grace Potter and the Nocturnals/Wood Brothers.
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